Contrary to stereotype, many criminals are exceptionally clever in their efforts to deprive hard-working people of their property. With the advent of vehicle-carried GPS navigation systems, one recent scheme is to steal a car, enter “home” into the navigation system to locate the vehicle owner's house, and then use a garage door opener in the car to gain access to the garage. With many people leaving the door from the garage to the house unlocked, this strategy can provide easy access to a dwelling.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,330,570 and 8,766,768 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0285316 to Albert Martin teach retrofitting a garage door control system to use a remote transmitter with a keypad. The remote transmitter will only transmit a signal to open the garage door if the user enters the correct alphanumeric code or PIN. Martin teaches easy retrofitting to an existing garage door opening system by replacing the existing manually actuable interior switch with a controller that can receive signals from the remote transmitter; the wires are disconnected from the original switch and connected to the controller. When a signal is received from the remote transmitter, the controller sends a switch signal, via the original wires, to the garage door control system to open or close the door. The controller also includes a physical switch to enable the garage door to be manually controlled so that there is no loss of functionality resulting from disconnecting the original switch. While this arrangement will provide considerable target-hardening against use of a garage door remote transmitter to gain access to a home, it does not interface directly with a home alarm system.